Instantly the young man’s mind reverted to the condition in which Mr. Huntress had first found him—a poor abandoned imbecile. Had this rough creature known of that, or had anything to do with it?
His next words enlightened him somewhat.
“You’re all right, too, in the upper story, and ye can talk,” he muttered. “Where ye been all these years?”
“All these years, How many years?” queried Geoffrey, with a rapidly beating heart.
“It’s eight years ago, last spring, since I set eyes on ye, and little thought I should ever see you again; never with that look on yer face. Where ye been, I say?”
“Eight years ago, last spring,” began Geoffrey, gravely, while he closely watched every expression on his companion’s countenance, “I was one day wandering, a poor, demented boy, in the streets of New York city. My strange appearance and actions attracted a mob of urchins, who began to make sport of me. They were in the midst of their cruelty when a carriage stopped near me, and a beautiful little girl beckoned to me, at the same time opening the door of the carriage. I darted away from my tormentors, sprang in beside her, and the next moment was driven away in safety, much to the rage of the boys. The girl’s father took an interest in me, consulted a physician, who made an examination of my case, and reported that my demented state had been caused by a heavy blow on the head several years before.”
Geoffrey saw the man shudder, as he made this statement, while a low exclamation of pain or fear escaped him, and a dim suspicion began to dawn on his mind.
“It was found,” he resumed, still watching the man, “that my skull had been fractured, and that a portion of the bone was pressing on my brain, which caused temporary paralysis, and made me an imbecile.”
Another shudder, more violent than the other, strengthened his suspicion.
“This physician and another,” he went on, “believed that an operation might be performed which would improve my condition, if it did not fully restore me to my right mind. Mr. Huntress, the man who had taken me under his protection, authorized the doctors to undertake the operation. They did so—it was successful, and I was restored.”